Bar Harbor bars Sidman from cruise ship discussions; APPLL, pilots to attend

OTHER NEWS: Asticou gets approval for expansion

BAR HARBOR, June 16, 2024 - It’s deja vu all over again.

Citizen intervenor Charles Sidman has been denied participation - once again - by the town in its latest attempt to resolve its cruise ship visitation crisis.

He said he was told by the town counsel on Friday he was not welcome to join the town’s multi-party talks with APPLL, Penobscot Bay pilots and the cruise lines themselves.

In early 2023, the town and APPLL similarly attempted to deny Sidman standing in APPLL’s lawsuit against the town. The town did not object to allowing the pilots to intervene on behalf of APPLL. Sidman sued for “intervenor status” as he and other citizens worried the town would not vigorously defend the 1,000-passenger-a-day cap approved overwhelmingly by residents.

U.S. District Court Judge Lance Walker shared those worries. Not only did he grant Sidman’s bid for defender intervenor status, he wrote a stinging rebuke of the Town Council.

“Based on my review of the available record, the history of this controversy reflects  a decidedly pro cruise ship sentiment on the part of the Bar Harbor Town Council,” Walker wrote.

“The  Town’s Cruise Ship Committee has been chaired by an agent of a principal plaintiff and does not appear (at first blush) to have done anything other than foster the growth of cruise ship passenger traffic.” That would be a reference to Eben Salvatore, who manages the cruise ship tendering business for the Walsh family.

“Indeed, there is a strong showing in the record so far adduced that the Town has long given over to one or more agents of the Walsh  family enterprises (i.e., most of the nominal plaintiffs) what appears (upon first impression)  to be carte blanche in matters of Bar Harbor’s informal and voluntary cruise ship policy,” wrote Walker, who indicated that he kept Sidman in the process so he could serve a valuable watchdog role.

(As if on cue, Council Chair Val Peacock on May 9 suspended council rules to give APPLL lawyers free rein over a council meeting until member Gary Friedmann put a stop to it.)

Now in the wake of the re-election of incumbents Joe Minutolo and Gary Friedmann, the Town Council is feeling emboldened, especially since Sidman was soundly defeated the second straight year in his bid for a council seat.

Two days after the elections, The council unveiled a “two-track” approach to solve the cruise ship visitation crisis, and none of it apparently includes Sidman, the lead petitioner who won a 1,780-1,273 referendum Nov. 8, 2022.

Some council members harbor deep, personal animus toward Sidman as evident by councilor Matt Hochman’s public use of vulgarity to attack him twice on social media.

Then last Thursday night, Sidman said Town Manager James Smith told him, in front of town attorney Stephen Wagner, that if he wanted a seat at the table, he needed to drop his lawsuit against the town.

I asked Smith and Wagner by email whether they made the same demand of APPLL and the pilots, which are also suing the town. They did not reply.

The town has frozen out Sidman many times, starting in 2022 under then Town Manager Kevin Sutherland, who seemed only interested in fashioning his own cruise ship management plan. Sidman said Sutherland had no interest in engaging in serious negotiations.

Sidman then filed his petition on March 17, 2022.

The Town Council voted 5-2 in August 2022 to approve Sutherland’s Memorandum of Agreement with cruise lines which would have allowed up to 65,000 passengers a month. (Friedmann and Minutolo voted against it). After the MOAs went into effect in October 2022, Sutherland went on a spree to sign up as many cruise lines as possible.

On the last day of 2022, APPLL sued the town to overturn the 1,000-passenger citizens cap.

Before Judge Walker granted Sidman’s intervenor status in March 2023, he ordered all parties to try to reach a settlement in front of a federal magistrate as mediator.

No agreement was reached, and the town was then forced to defend the ordinance along with Sidman’s lawyers.

A three-day trial was held in Bangor in July 2023, with Walker presiding. Briefs and counter briefs were filed through November 2023.

It took longer than expected for Walker to issue his ruling, but when he did on Feb. 29, 2024, it was seismic and sweeping in upholding the citizens’ right to use the local ordinance to cap cruise ship visitation.

But one week later the Town Council issued a statement that it would allow virtually all the ships booked by Sutherland for 2024 before the Nov. 8, 2022 vote, to visit Bar Harbor, despite the ordinance language which fixed the last day of accepting new ships as March 17, 2022.

Co-defendant Sidman was not asked for his input. “That blew me away,” Sidman said. In May, his lawyers filed suit against the town alleging its action was illegal.

Hochman, Peacock and other council members took great offense at being personally named in the suit even though they have no personal liability and began to attack Sidman who was running for council.

The council cited the large legal bill foisted on taxpayers from the lawsuits but failed to note that some of the cost was from Wagner’s remedial work created by his own mistakes. The QSJ has filed a Freedom of Information Act request to review the town’s legal invoices.

Faced with a $300,000 annual legal bill, the Town Council has charged Town Manager James Smith to come up with a plan to end the costly lawsuits.

Sidman labeled Smith’s confrontation with him Thursday night as “coercion which is not going to work and will only induce more lawsuits.”

According to Sidman, Wagner did not step in to advise his client against making hostile remarks against him.

Sidman agreed, judging by the volume of hate mail he’s getting, that the council may feel empowered by his poor showing in the town election June 11 when he ran for a council vacancy. He said he had low expectations and used the platform to garner support for his cause. Apart from financing much of his activity himself, Sidman has raised $294,350 from 394 donations on a Gofundme page called “Protect Acadia from Cruise Ships.”

Minutolo read the election results as a validation of the council’s record.

But did he read that correctly?

Many voters interviewed by the QSJ said their votes for Friedmann and Minutolo were more of a prophylactic against the attempted hostile takeover of the town by former Chamber of Commerce presidents, Nina St. Germain and Michael Boland.

It was a reprise of what happened three years ago, when Friedmann/Minutolo vanquished pro-tourism candidates Jennifer Cough and Peter St. Germain. This time their votes were diluted by supporters of activist Sidman and another run by former police chief Nate Young, who ran on a promise for better fiscal oversight.

Had Sidman and Young not been on the ballot, it’s safe to say most of their votes would have gone to Friedmann and Minutolo.

Sidman got 248 votes, Nate Young 354, Friedmann 648, Minutolo 743, St. Germain 582 and Boland 488.

Friedmann did well despite his baggage this year - a failed sponsorship of the $4.5 million Higgins Pit solar array and resentment of his pursuing a second political seat as the State House representative of District 14.

The other Chamber candidate, Bo Jennings, couldn’t even muster enough votes among six candidates to win a seat on the Warrant Committee.

The council wasted no time in presenting its two-track approach to managing cruise ship visitation based on three goals: “Real and meaningful reduction in cruise visitation; alternative to governing by litigation; and public input and transparency throughout the process and final product.”

Sidman said by barring him from the talks, the council already ensured the process will not be transparent and will ultimately lead to more litigation.

The council cited examples of how a new cruise ship management plan might entail:

“A system of regulating cruise ship passenger caps through reservation system; daily, monthly, and/or seasonal passenger caps (with blackout dates); ordinances and/or contracts to regulate and govern cruise ship visitation; a licensing program similar to the Town’s current regulation of short-term rentals.”

But to achieve any of that, the current ordinance as adopted will need to be eliminated or amended by a vote of the citizenry.

Is it smart to keep the chief architect of that ordinance out in the cold?

And it is smart to assume the cruise lines and APPLL have the same interest? (Salvatore publicly challenged the council on the MOA which was embraced by the cruise lines).

Cruise lines have choices. Two of them have already canceled bookings this season.

Do they really want their brands associated with Bar Harbor’s toxicity, with at least one council member publicly spewing vulgarity and the town manager making veiled threats and multiple lawsuits in various courts flying around like frisbees?

The cruise lines cannot deny that 1,780 adults stated on Nov. 8, 2022 that they are not welcome here in such volume.

Are the council and APPLL unwittingly contributing to the slow but inevitable decline of cruise ship tourism?

And handing Sidman deniability, while he picks away from the sidelines for years to come?

Here is some free executive advice to a town manager and council with no experience in trying to tackle such a complicated, multi-faceted problem:

Break up the negotiations among the three separate parties because they each have different interests - citizen petitioner Sidman, Cruise Lines International Association and APPLE/pilots.

The bar is high - to come up with a solution voters will accept.

APPLL may have already shot itself in the foot. The more it litigates, the more it stokes the rank odor of Bar Harbor as a destination. Acadia National Park is accessible by car, the way most people visit MDI.

Leaving Sidman on the sidelines to pick away at the scabs is foolish.

The town badly needs some sober adult supervision. To quote Tom Hagen in “The Godfather, “This is not personal. It’s business.”

UPDATE:

Sidman sent this email to the Town Council June 18, 2024:

Dear Bar Harbor Town Council:

I draw your attention to my latest editorial in this week’s Mount Desert Islander (https://www.mdislander.com/opinion/commentary/in-response-to-town-council-re-cruise-ships/article_33406b5c-2cc0-11ef-a209-3f0b29c8ac0e.html), relevant to tonight’s and ongoing discussions about cruise ships in our town.  What did not come across in the sanitized version online and in this week’s print edition is my opinion that the Town Council is now playing a “Good Cop – Bad Cop” game with the public.  While Chair Peacock preaches, claims and espouses openness, transparency and trust, my opinion is that Attorney Wagner and Manager Smith are engaging in anything but.  Attorney Wagner declined to allow, despite promises made publicly on Thursday night, the one party that Judge Walker found most aligned with and representing Bar Harbor’s voters (i.e. myself) to attend yesterday’s (Monday) closed door “discussion/mediation” among the Town, plaintiffs APPLL and Pilots, and the cruise lines.  Further, it is my view that Manager Smith’s “offer” to allow me to attend on the condition that I give up my basic civil right to seek redress from the courts constitutes attempted intimidation through both bribery and coercion.  The Town is fundamentally responsible for the behavior of its key employees, and will have only itself to blame when their actions find their way into present and multiplying future litigation, our only recourse if the Town persists in its overbearing and unilateral violation of citizens’ rights.

Sincerely,

Charles Sidman

Planning Board approves expansion of Asticou Inn

NORTHEAST HARBOR - It took the Planning Board less than an hour Wednesday to review and approve the largest non-subdivision project in town history, despite concerns raised by some residents about traffic, parking, shoreline erosion, employee housing and other issues related to the expansion of the historic Asticou Inn.

You may view the meeting by double clicking the above video.

Rick Savage, whose family built the original inn in 1884, said, “This is a massive development. I'm not opposed to it. But it's in a residential district and shoreland zoning. It really requires some thoughtful consideration.

“Perhaps 40 years ago when I was on the planning board it should have been set up as a commercial zone, but it never was.

“I also documented erosion that happened this winter … Two buildings southeast of this property that washed off their foundation and one dock that is completely gone. I do know that our main pier down here was underwater. I'm totally convinced that this isn’t the last time we've seen anything like this.

“So I would strongly recommend before any construction or development proceed, the shorefront be reinforced with granite or stone to prevent future erosion.”

For more background read my article from May 24.

Project 2025: A Supreme Threat to Democracy

NORTHEAST HARBOR - Jennifer Flynn Walker of The Center for Popular Democracy will offer a free, public workshop on Project 2025: A Supreme Threat to U.S. Democracy.

The workshop will be held in the Mellon Room at the Northeast Harbor Library on Saturday, June 22, 2024 from 3-4:30.

It is being sponsored by members of the community who regularly appear at Leonard Leo’s house at 46 South Shore Road to protest the funding of extreme, right-wing causes with dark money.

“Project 2025, which is funded by the Heritage Foundation, has published a terrifying document with more than 900 detailed pages on how to turn our representative democracy into a fully empowered, staffed, taxpayer funded autocracy on Day 1 of a Republican administration,” states Flynn.

“Project 2025 is a roadmap that inserts an extreme Christian view throughout American politics, a view that is neither democratic nor representative of the people. It calls for expanded presidential powers, elimination of abortion and LGBTQ+ rights, fossil fuel expansion, rollback of green infrastructure investments, reduced consumer rights and protections, a Department of Justice weaponized against the people, and much more.”

“I hope attendees will come away from the workshop understanding the real threat Project 2025 poses to each of us and our world, and what can be done to work together to ensure this proposal is never enacted.“

Flynn Walker is Co-Chair of the Campaigns Department at the Center for Popular Democracy.

She oversees teams working on voting rights and democracy, healthcare, housing, SCOTUS, and immigration and justice issues across the country.

“We’re pleased to welcome Jennifer to Maine so we can better understand Project 2025 and the threat it poses to our democracy,” said Caroline Pryor, one of the event organizers.

Flynn Walker is founder and former executive director of VOCAL-NY, organizing around welfare rights, homelessness, drug user rights, and immigration with winning campaigns that resulted in a right to housing legislation and over $30 million to build housing.

The Center for Popular Democracy, founded in 2012, uses a model for change that draws on successful base-building and advocacy by partners. The Center is working for change thanks to a staff of 95, and 53 partners and affiliates in 131 cities in 34 states and Puerto Rico and Washington, DC. In Maine, the Center’s affiliate is the Maine People’s Alliance, the state’s largest community action organization with more than 32,000 members.

Flynn Walker’s recognitions include the Union Square Award, Robert Wood Johnson Community Health Leadership Award, and New York City Council Hero Award. She is profiled in the book Girl Activist for her creation of the birddog nation and the campaign to save the Affordable Care Act. Her master’s degree was awarded by New School for Social Research.

Area artists, musicians highlight gallery opening in Southwest Harbor

SOUTHWEST HARBOR - Bowen Swersey, who was featured on New Center Maine a year ago for his tree houses, will host the first opening of the season showcasing the art of his wife Christine and others June 29 and 30 at what Downeast Magazine called their home-gallery mashup at 19 Raynes Way, off Seal Cove Road.

TRIBUTE: Anita Jo Burdzel

1971 - 2024

BAR HARBOR - Anita Jo Burdzel, 52, of Bar Harbor passed unexpectedly on June 13,2024 as the result of injuries sustained in a motor vehicle accident. Born on July 17, 1971, Anita was the youngest child of Edgar (EC) Caverly and Charlee Ballard.

She was a graduate of Cony High School in Augusta and The University of Maine at Augusta. Anita spent most of her career caring for her family, raising her beloved children and was recently enrolled at EMCC in a medical administration program. She was an avid hiker and loved walking her dog Rosie on the local trails. Anita was a passionate advocate for finding a cure for her inherited rare disease Vascular Elhers Danlos Syndrome (VEDS).

She is survived by her mother Charlee Curtis of Boothbay, sister Sara (John) Thompson of Windsor, husband of 27 years, Norman, children Anna, Adam, Andrew and Antimony, several cousins, nieces, nephews, aunts and uncles. She was predeceased by her father and brother Richard.

Anita’s wishes will be honored and there will be no service.

Instead of flowers, please provide donations in her honor to the https://thevedsmovement.org

Condolences may be expressed at www.jordanfernald.com